Youth Voting
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PUBLISHED BY Coordinators: SEPTEMBER 2019 • ISSUE 1 L Bethany J. Roberts, AW Chair, LRE Committee; W ISE Anne Woods, Public Services Director; Nicolas Shump, Law Wise Editor; & Patti Van Slyke, Journal Editor Greetings from the Kansas Bar Association (KBA). Welcome to this first edition of Law Wise for the 2019-2020 school year. IN THIS ISSUE Youth Voting .................................................1 The Potential Impact of the Youth Vote ............. 2 Old Enough to Fight, Old Enough to Vote ...... 2 Should the Voting Age be Lowered? ............... 3 “The Times They Are A’Changin’” Issues Affecting Young Voters .......................... 4 Election Lesson Plan 1: Grades 6-8 ..................................................... 5 Election Lesson Plan 2: Design A Candidate Advertising Campaign .... 6 Youth Voting iCivics ............................................................ 8 he passage of the 26th amendment lowering the voting age from Terrific Technology for Teachers ...................... 9 21 to 18 served as the culmination of a thirty-year battle to extend the privilege to teenagers. However, the battle over youth voting Thas not ended with that historic amendment. As this issue will explore, Did you know... organizations like the National Youth Rights Organization continue to • 4 MILLION 17-year-olds turn 18 before the advocate for lowering the voting age to 16. The political importance of November election. the youth vote will be explored as well. Data since the 1972 presidential • If you are 17 1/2, you can register to vote NOW. election shows over half of all eligible youths have voted in presidential • Don’t miss the opportunity to play a role in elections since 2008. In the 2018 midterm elections, youth voting reached electing your leaders. a 25-year high. With important political issues, including health insurance Your Vote Is Your Voice and student debt forgiveness, younger voters might find themselves moti- vated to exercise their franchise in the 2020 presidential election cycle. A Constitution Day Public Reading closer look will be given to these and other issues impacting youth voters. September 17, 2019 • 9:00 a.m. Finally, information on how to register to vote and ways for young people to sign up to be a reader, go to the link for that particular venue to become more politically involved will be covered as well. Kansas City: Robert J. Dole U.S. Courthouse Voting is not only a right, it is a duty—a responsibility—as well. The https://bitly.com/const-day2019kc power of the youth voting bloc has the potential to reshape the political landscape of the United States for years to come. Topeka: Frank Carlson Federal Building http://bitly.com/const-day2019topeka Calendar Sept 12-13 DNC U.S. Presidential Debates on ABC Wichita: United States Courthouse Sept. 15-21 Celebrate Freedom Week. http://bitly.com/const-day2019wichita Sept. 17 Constitution Day www.ksbar.org/lawwise 2 LAW WISE | SEPTEMBER 2019 The Potential Impact of the Youth Vote ith the culmination of the decades-long fight to lower the vote in 1998, and the 2000 and 2002 elections held only the voting age to 18, the first impact of this electoral a one to two percent advantage for the Democratic Party. In Wdemographic appears in the 1972 presidential elec- every other national election since 1992, the Democratic Party tion between Senator George McGovern and President Rich- has had over a 10 percent advantage, peaking in the 2018 mid- ard Nixon. According to electoral data, 55 percent of voters age term where youth voters preferred the Democratic Party 67 eighteen to twenty-nine voted in the election, which occurred percent to 32 percent. less than a year after the passage of the 26th Amendment. That The Center for Research and Information on Civic Learning election remains a record high for youth voters. and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University noted in 2012 However, within the twenty-first century, youth voting has that Mitt Romney would have won the 2012 election had he experienced an upswing in most presidential elections and split the youth vote with incumbent president Barack Obama. even in the 2018 mid-term elections. In the 2000 presidential The youth vote proved decisive in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania election, 40 percent of voters between the age of eighteen to and Virginia, where President Obama had at least 61 percent twenty-nine voted. The number rose to nearly 49 percent in of the youth vote in these states. Hilary Clinton received 55 2004. In 2008, approximately 52 percent of those voters par- percent of the youth vote to President Trump’s 40 percent. ticipated in the presidential election. That marked the highest In voting down Representative Alanna Pressley’s bill to low- percentage since the 1992 presidential election and the third er the federal voting age to 16, Representative Rodney Davis highest total since the passage of the 26th Amendment. The stated, “I’m of the opinion that we shouldn’t arbitrarily lower percentage dipped slightly to 49 percent in 2012 and rose to the voting age just because right now, I believe Democrats approximately 50 percent in 2016. In the 2018 midterm Con- think they’ll gain more votes. I believe it will institutionalize gressional elections, nearly 31 percent of youth voters took part. a Democrat majority here in this House of Representatives.” Though a seemingly lower number, the 31 percent marked a 10 percent increase over the 2014 midterms and is the highest The current generation of youth voters have embraced voting percentage of the last quarter century. in contrast to Generation X which, during the 1990s, rarely exceeded 40 percent in national elections. It will remain to Traditionally, the 18-29 demographic votes Democratic. be seen how youth voting will influence the 2020 election, The 1994 midterm election has been the only election in the though candidates and parties will likely need to be more at- last twenty-five years in which the youth vote went Republi- tentive to the issues affecting this age group. can—49 percent to 48 percent. The two parties equally split “Old Enough to Fight, Old Enough to Vote” he phrase “Old Enough to Fight, Old Enough to Vote” in the world and are anxious to rectify those ills.” Randolph, emerged from the movement to lower the federal vot- who later became a Senator, would introduce bills to lower the ing age from twenty-one to eighteen. During the Second voting age 11 times in Congress. TWorld War, President Franklin Roosevelt lowered the draft age President Dwight D. Eisenhower, former Supreme Allied from twenty-one to eighteen. Most states had set the voting age Commander during WWII, voiced his support for a Consti- at twenty-one; therefore, Roosevelt’s action caused resentment tutional Amendment to lower the national voting age to eigh- since those serving in the military might not be able to vote teen. Eisenhower noted “For years our citizens between the when they returned from the war. ages of 18 and 21 have, in time of peril, been summoned to Several states unilaterally took action to sync the voting age fight for America. They should participate in the political pro- with the draft age. Georgia became the first state to do so in cess that produces this fateful summons.” 1943 by setting the voting age in state and national elections In 1969, as the U.S. involvement in Vietnam continued de- at eighteen. A year earlier, Representative Jennings Randolph spite growing opposition to the conflict, at least 60 Congres- introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to set the sional resolutions attempted to address this issue, but none federal voting age at eighteen. Randolph argued, “They pos- resulted in changing the voting age. The next year, 1970, sess a great social conscience, are perplexed by the injustices www.ksbar.org/lawwise SEPTEMBER 2019 | LAW WISE 3 Congress voted to extend and amend the Voting Rights Act of both chambers. Within two months, over three-fourths of the 1965. One amendment allowed for eighteen-year-olds to vote states had ratified this Amendment. The time frame remains in elections on all levels. Though he signed the bill, President the shortest ratification effort in American history. On July Richard Nixon believed Congress did not possess the author- 1, 1971, President Nixon signed the 26th Amendment into ity to make such a change. Nixon believed the appropriate ac- law. In his remarks, Nixon claimed, “The reason I believe that tion to be a Constitutional Amendment. your generation, the 11 million new voters, will do so much for America at home, is that you will infuse into this nation In that same year, a case reached the Supreme Court regard- some idealism, some courage, some stamina, some high moral ing the constitutionality of this legislation. In Oregon v Mitch- purpose, that this country always needs.” ell, the Supreme Court ruled Congress did not have the right to regulate minimum voting age in local and state elections, Kansas was among the forty-two states that passed the 26th but did have the power in federal elections. As result of the Amendment. Eight states did not ratify this Amendment. Court’s decision, eighteen to twenty-years old could vote in the Those states were Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, Presidential election only. New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah. The 26th Amendment joined the 15th and 19th Amendments to Feeling dissatisfied with this situation, the states proposed a the U.S. Constitution that extended voting rights to African- Constitutional Amendment which would set the national vot- Americans, and women. ing age at eighteen. In March of 1971, the Senate and House both passed that Amendment with considerable support in Should the Voting Age be Lowered? The struggle to lower the voting age from eighteen to twen- the general election.